Played on 07.10.24, 134 (Ru, keyboard, wifi) vs imran (Uk, keyboard, cable)

Matchup notes:
Paul's qcf1 "Thruster" and Hei's ff2 "Demon Uppercut" are both safe launchers that crush jabs and have a bit of tracking. Both are great, spammable moves and both get used in this fight a lot. Hei's is mid, but is telegraphed, Paul's is high but is unseeable and almost completely safe even if ducked on time. Thruster stuns even a sidestep with no hit buttons pressed, gets more damage with less execution. Technically stun is breakable, but not realistically, which is a balance oversight.
Paul's d4,2 "Bone Breaker" and Hei's infamous 'no stagger hellsweeps' are both unseeable lows, but Paul's knocks down on first hit while Hei's one initiates a mid/low mixup. On high level, Hei's best bet is to land a mid kick and lose his turn, while Paul deals full damage and keeps initiative against grounded.
Hei's qcf2 looks identical to Paul's, but it's not. Paul's Death Fist leaves opponent lying faced down, head forward, opposite to Hei's one, giving Paul amazing grounded pressure, as is shown a lot in this fight. This free okizeme is a balance oversight.
After Paul's f12 "Hammer of Gods" into block, his magic 4 can't be contested. However Hei can go for his f4 special kick reversal, getting 38 damage and dealing 45. This fight doesn't show that, all my f4 were on accident, as they always are with me :d
Optimal punishment for Paul's uf3,4 "Shredder" is df1,2 "Twin Pistons" (f1,1,2 is weaker but easier). uf3 without 4 can additionally be punished with uf2 nosebleed combos, which are stronger but escapable.
Optimal punishment for Paul's d4,2 is 1,1,2(easy), Twin Pistons(normal), WGF(hard), uf2 into ff2 combo (very hard, escapable). d4 without 2 is punishable with very tight timings, borderline safe.
Paul's/Hei's d1,2 can be interrupted with a jab at close distance if first hit is blocked.
Paul's/Hei's d1,2 can be punished with a just frame qcf2.

Thoughts on this match:
Heihachi performance 6/10
Punishments were often suboptimal. Hellsweep mindgame was repetitive. Juggles were suboptimal or even dropped whenever launcher landed at long distance. d1,2 was overused at long distance and got rightfully punished.
Paul performance 8.5/10
Some juggles were not maximized, but were never dropped. Repetitive gameplay. Good reaction times. Good defense. Great grounded pressure. Wrong wakeups after grabs. d1,2 was overused at close distance and got rightfully punished.

While the match was played online and I used wifi, imran consistently landed qcf2 to punish d1,2 which I didn't even know was possible, so there was wiggle room still. I failed half the punishments. To my credit, at 20:12 I did attempt nosebleed punish, but failed, timing ff2 there is tricky. Whenever wgf landed at long distance, I missclicked qcf2 into f2. A few times hellsweep turned into d4 stomp whiff. At one point I followed triple hellsweep with f1,2 for max 68dmg, but after double hellsweep I didn't land a 1+2 Demon's Breath finisher, completely forgot it was possible. I never attempted d,df,f4 followup to f,f12 throw, which is a good option to try. My d4,2 block ratio was horrible, but not guessing 50/50 is hardly a 'mistake'.
Imran never went for max damage juggle after qcf1 but for a good reason. Going for uf3 followup guarantees decent damage whether stun procced or not, it's VERY difficult to react instead. Other than not knowing proper wakeups after getting grabbed and doing d1,2 at close distance many times, the only big mistake by imran is not punishing Thunder God Fist properly, trying d4,2 and getting it blocked one or two times as a result (proper way is to throw/launch depending on distance).
This match shows something very well:
On a human level, it's very difficult to punish Paul at all. Be it uf3,4 or uf3 without 4; d4 without 2 or even a single dash into standing still (making you respect qcf2/uf3,4/d4,2), you have to freeze, wait and often eat a hit anyway. WGF/nonstagger hellsweep vortex is hyped as broken, but you can see Paul blocking it all easily and even though we landed unseeable lows equally, the one that knocks down got way more value. Twin Pistons are called broken, but you can see me facing uf3, getting overloaded with multitasking between possible followups, doing Twin Pistons and regretting it instantly, getting launched. Paul forces mindgames for FREE. Effortlessly. Heihachi doesn't.
imran milks Paul's grounded pressure amazingly, caging opponent into slow standing near him, punishing with delayed d4, well timed f12, standing jump into delayed 3 ground hit etc. Video makes it look like I'm a complete idiot waking up carelessly. I'm not. I was mixing it up, but he caught it all. At 27:53 I did a bold uf1,2 because I conditioned him to expect throws there. After 67 I didn't crumble but took risks purposefully, trying to make something like 18:48 comeback happen. GG
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